This personal essay was published by The Spinoff in April 2026. It explores my experience navigating financial relief with Inland Revenue, and the gap between how systems are designed to work and how they can feel in practice — particularly when illness, bureaucracy and financial uncertainty collide. At its heart, it is about dignity, discretion, … Continue reading The Cost of Proving You’re Poor Enough
PART TWO: Navigating the Maze This is the second post in a three-part series about the unexpectedly complicated chain of medical appointments that followed the discovery of a cataract and retinal tear. You can read Part One here By this point I had already had one laser procedure on my right eye and was waiting … Continue reading A Superfluity of Appointments
PART ONE: It Started with My Eyes This is the first post in a short three-part series about the unexpected chain of medical appointments that eventually led to cataract surgery. For the past eight months it seems as though a week hasn’t gone by without some sort of hospital appointment. Nothing dramatic — no flashing … Continue reading A Superfluity of Appointments
Some weeks feel like a test of endurance. This one could have qualified for the decathlon. Monday: I had an appointment with the Eye Service at Outpatients, where I was told that despite months of being assured I qualified for publicly funded cataract surgery, I no longer do. The reason? The other eye is “too … Continue reading What a Week (From Hell)
